This has to end
by SugarBee
Summary: Tifa can't take it anymore. Cloud has to choose - settle down or be single. Tifa wants to settle this so she can move on. Tifa/Cloud? or Tifa/?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: rated M for lemony goodness later on - and rampant alcohol consumption ^_^_

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><p><strong>chapter 1<br>**

_**7th Heaven, Midgar  
>Friday<br>6 a.m.**_

_So this is what morning looks like,_ Tifa thought to herself.

She stepped out onto the sidewalk with Denzel in tow and locked the doors of 7th Heaven behind her. She didn't do this often – leave her bar and lock it up behind her. She pulled down the mesh screen and locked that, too – quickly, so she wouldn't get to thinking about what she was doing. She zipped up her jacket against the cold early morning air and shut her mind to it all. This leaving stuff was harder than she had thought it would be. Last night she thought she'd really made up her mind. But now …. She tucked the keys to the bar inside her pocket and turned away before she could feel sad.

Midgar. The sky was gray as far as she could see, so it was a typical morning – like all mornings, even in summer. She had come here so long ago at the beginning of summer, straight out of high school. One night she had been graduating. The next morning she'd arrived in Midgar on the train to live with her aunt, and … find Cloud. She'd found him, all right.

"Denzel, zip your jacket," she said.

He was sleepy. She couldn't blame him. Neither of them were used to being up this early. She put an arm around his thin shoulders and moved him along the sidewalk, but not before checking to make sure the truck she ordered was there. It was. She moved Denzel along a little faster. The truck was exactly what she wanted – a sturdy four-wheel drive good for traveling.

Denzel put on his brakes, "Where are we going, Tifa?"

The most important pieces of their luggage were on the sidewalk - his small duffle and her larger leather overnight bag. She let Denzel stay where he was while she threw the luggage in the truck's bed. The rest of their things still needed to be packed, a job for which she hoped to hire Yuffie. She brushed her hands off on her jeans and moved him closer to the passenger side of the sturdy truck,

"We're leaving."

"Leaving!" He pulled away suddenly, "Leaving for where?"

Tifa opened the passenger door, "We're … we're leaving the city, Denzel."

"Really?" He said, watching her. He blinked in the early morning mist, trying to think. The only thing that came to him was, "What about Cloud?"

Denzel and his questions. She had hoped they would at least be out of Midgar before he started in with those.

She nodded at the open door, "Get in."

"What about Cloud?" Denzel said again, inching back toward the building that was the bar and, up above and in the back, their home.

Tifa reached out and grabbed his hand, "Cloud's gone."

Denzel hesitated, "Cloud's g- …."

She put him in the truck, "Cloud left last night."

The last thing she needed was a struggle out on the sidewalk with Denzel. First an argument with Cloud, now Denzel? In any event she was determined to leave Midgar. With Denzel. There was no way she was leaving him behind. Walking around the back of the truck she took one last look at their belongings, making sure they were tied down for the long trip. Through the back window she could see Denzel making a fuss.

She opened the driver's side door, "Settle down."

Denzel's temper, something he learned from her, no doubt, flared, "Where's Cloud? We're not leaving without Marlene, are we?"

"I'll tell you about Cloud once we get out of Midgar," she said, turning a key in the ignition. The truck's engine purred to life. The engine sounded new. "You can ask me anything you want once we're on the road."

He could ask, and he probably would. Denzel and his questions. There was no way she could tell him everything. She would tell him enough. He was leaving Midgar with her, and that was the only thing that was really important.


	2. Chapter 2

_Another A/N: It's taken me about 2 yrs to write this story. I keep hating it, or start thinking it's getting too long for a short story, or whatever, and I leave it. Then at some point I start reading it again & think, "Okay, now, really - I like this idea. Tifa's gonna make Cloud choose. Srsly." When I first started writing this as a short story, I was playing Shadowhearts Covenant & decided to throw Gepetto in here because of the scene with him & Karen get hammered at the bar ^_^ Just an FYI._

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><p><strong>chapter 2<br>**

_**7th Heaven, Midgar  
>The night before<br>Thursday, 9:30 p.m.**_

Slow business day. Tifa took over for the day bartender, Yasmine, at 5 o'clock. There had only been three customers then. Now it was working on 10 o'clock and their customer count was up to five total, which was better than zero, so she shouldn't complain. She kept expecting the door to swing open and the pace to pick up, but that wasn't happening. Some nights it was 11 o'clock or midnight before people started coming in.

"And so … what was I talking about?" One of the regulars, an old guy who did puppet shows, was the only one at the bar. Tifa stayed to talk to him, pouring shots every now and then.

"Your daughter," Tifa said, pouring another.

The old man spent a lot of time at 7th Heaven. She was pretty sure he had no other family – other than her and Cloud. He spent so much time at the bar that he was like a grandfather to them and the children.

"My daughter Cecily!" He cheered up, "My daughter Cecily … I thought I saw her the other day …."

Poor thing. He'd lost his little daughter when the plate fell. Every now and then he was sure he saw her in the crowds of Midgar, but she eluded him every time. Tifa listened to his stories and smiled. It gave the old man comfort, thinking Cecily was still alive. All of them, every single one, had lost in Midgar.

There were four other customers – Reno and Rude teleconferencing with Reeve, and an auburn-haired guy, tall and thin, with his blonde girlfriend. The blonde girl looked young – too young to be in a bar with her boyfriend. Tifa had checked her I.D. as soon as they came through the door. It said she was 19. The girl noticed Tifa looking her direction. She smiled and seemed nervous.

"Why did you never marry again and have another family, Gepetto?" Tifa said to the old man.

"Never did find another good woman," he said, making Tifa laugh. "No, you're the only good woman around here, daughter. And … I think you're taken, ain't ya?"

The ring on her left hand. The old guy had noticed. It wasn't the usual kind of engagement ring, but … it was a ring.

She smiled, "Well … the ball is definitely in his court now."

"Really?" The old man perked and knocked back half of what was in his glass, "Now, tell me what kind of crazy man would pass you up, daughter?"

She poured another shot for him, "A man who's crazy."

He nodded and winked at her, "Ay yuh. That's the one."

The door opened and two girls came in, one with long red hair pulled back into a ponytail and a taller brunette with an hourglass figure. Now it was Reno and Rude's turn to perk. Even the auburn-haired boyfriend perked – until his girlfriend put her hand in front of his eyes. The two girls looked around and sat down at a small table close to the bar.

Tifa put a 7th Heaven coaster in front of each of them, "Hi! Can I see some I.D., please?"

They both cheerfully produced their driver's licenses and ordered two wine spritzers. Tifa went back behind the bar and found the old man staring at the girls, too. _How soon we forget_, she said to herself, smiling while mixing their drinks (white wine, simple syrup and club soda). She had some suspicion about why they'd come in. A theater recently opened two blocks up, but neither looked like the theater type.

Half an hour later, Cloud walked through the front door and confirmed her suspicions. The girls perked, turning to see him, smiling as they watched him walk in. It wasn't the first time girls had come to 7th Heaven, wanting to see Cloud. He looked around without really looking around, then sat down on a stool at the end of the bar. Tifa poured him half a glass of curiel,

"Hi, stranger," she said.

"Hi," he said without looking at her.

Already it was starting. The tall boyfriend came over, his girlfriend following.

"Hey, are you Cloud?" He said.

Without really looking at the tall guy, Cloud said, "Uh huh."

Tifa knew the drill. Pics or an autograph. Just as six people walked through the front door, looking a little theater-y, she thought she heard the boyfriend say, _can I buy you a beer?_ Girls she could never predict – they might say nothing, they might talk to Cloud just a little and then leave, or they might hit on him. Whatever. It never went anywhere. Just like it never went anywhere for her, with Cloud.

Lately, anyway.

She made sure the old man had a refill before she went to wait on the theatre group. Reno and Rude – they served themselves. That was fine with her. They always paid up at the end of the night, leaving a fat tip.

"Hi!" She said to the table of six. Yup, just as she thought – three couples coming from the theatre. "What can I get you?"

By the time she got back to the bar, Reno was talking to Cloud and the tall guy. He asked her if she needed any help and she said no. Reno had spent so much time at the bar he was getting to be a pretty good bartender, which was … kind of pathetic when you thought about it, and yet very helpful at times. All the theatre group wanted was two bottles of red wine and a bottle of white. Nice and easy.

The two girls finished their wine spritzers and left, disappointed. She could relate to that. The theatre crowd finished their wine and moved on after leaving a nice tip. Easy night.

Rude got behind the bar, too – talking to Cloud and the tall boyfriend. The girlfriend became bored and sat on a bar stool nearby, waiting patiently. Turned out the boyfriend was Reno's long lost family member. Tifa couldn't imagine someone actually owning up to that, but the tall boyfriend did. Turned out his grandfather was Reno's great-uncle.

By 1 o'clock it was just the seven of them gathered around the bar. Tifa sat down by the old man with a stack of mail and an invoice from Yuffie Kisraghi for services rendered – babysitting, in the amount of 250 gil.

That was fair. Every night Tifa had been working, Yuffie and Vincent were babysitting Denzel and Marlene in Tifa's apartment. They were there tonight, in fact, making sure everyone did their homework. Tifa made a mental note to take the money out of the till and put it in an envelope before leaving tonight.

"Can I get ya anything?" Rude said.

"Why, thank you!" She teased, "As long as you're asking, I'll have a double curiel on the rocks."

This time when she looked up she caught the elusive Cloud staring at her. He looked away. But at least he noticed her. The tall guy and his girlfriend left, promising to meet up with Reno again some time. Now if Reno could get a girl to do that he'd have it made. Cloud nodded at the two as they left and then went back to his drink.

Rude refilled her glass and very slyly nodded in the direction of the old man. Tifa looked over to catch him nodding off. Typical for this time of night. She mouthed the word _taxi_ to Rude. He smiled and took the portable phone to the other side of the bar to call.

She had given some thought to Rude. She knew he liked her, and that if she asked him to stop by for dinner some time he would say yes. But he wasn't Cloud.

Tifa looked over at Cloud again to find him looking at her, too, while listening to Reno talk on and on,

"So I told him, you know how it is, Cloud – man, this new group ain't gonna cut it! I was checking em out and they nuttin but scrubs, y'know?"

"They probably said the same thing about you back in the day, Reno," she said in the most casual way. Cloud and Rude both laughed.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Reno turned to defend himself, "You _know_ that ain't true …."

"I'm sure it was!" She smiled, thinking back on it, "I was here then, too – I remember you! This skinny kid thinking he's some big shot, kinda like … a rooster."

Cloud and Rude were still laughing when the taxi arrived. She knew Reno wanted to laugh, too, but he didn't show it. He went out to grab the taxi and Rude helped the old man out. As soon as they were gone, Cloud gave her three 100-gil notes,

"I'll buy the bottle." He was talking about the curiel. He also grabbed up his shot glass.

"Turning in?" She said, gathering up the rest of the glasses from the bar.

He nodded, suddenly shy.

She nodded, too, "Can I talk to you about something before you get to sleep?"

The smile that was starting around the edges of his mouth fell away, "Yeah, sure."

After that Cloud turned and left the bar through the back door with his characteristic long strides. Tifa watched him go and thought about what she was going to say until Reno and Rude came back into the bar.

"Hey," she said to them both, "do you mind closing up the bar for me? I've really got to talk to Cloud about something tonight."

Reno closed the door behind him, "Talk? Is that what they're calling it now?"

She let him have his laugh while she dried her hands and brushed her clothes off and left the bar through the same door as Cloud. As soon as she was through the heavy wooden door she locked it behind her. In the back of the building was a living room for the children. It was dark and quiet now. Everyone was sleeping upstairs now that Denzel had recovered. Tifa was thankful for that. This talk she needed to have with Cloud … she didn't know …. If it got loud, she didn't want the children to hear.


	3. Chapter 3

**chapter 3**

His room was to her right through another heavy wooden door. Tifa went in cautiously,

"Knock, knock?"

She found him sitting at the foot of his twin bed, looking down, bottle in one hand, empty shot glass in the other. He didn't look up when she came in but stayed where he was. She had a feeling he was thinking seriously about something again. He looked up,

"Hi."

"Hi," she said and sat down at the head of the bed.

Being the kind to plan ahead, earlier in the day she changed his sheets for him and washed his horrible army blanket. Why he loved that thing, she didn't know. She took off her shoes and folded her legs under her,

"Feels good to sit down finally." That was kind of lame but she needed to start out carefully. She didn't want to dive right in.

"Shot?" He said and offered her the bottle.

"Yeah, why not," she said and took the shot glass from him. He filled it for her. "Thanks."

The strong alcohol was delicious and full of fire. It was one of her favorite drinks. Cloud poured her another shot and she downed that, too. Curiel was her most expensive drink and was one she couldn't distill herself. Curiel took time and a lot of grapes, neither of which she had – yet. This particular brand came from down by ancient temple and was around 250 gil. Different kinds went up as high was 1,000 gil for a small bottle.

"That is so good," she said. "Delicious."

"Just like you," Cloud said quietly, giving her a refill.

"How would you know?" She said. The alcohol was affecting her already, making her head swim a little.

"Tifa …," he warned.

"I'm serious," she downed the shot of curiel and handed the glass back to Cloud. "It's been a while, y'know?"

Cloud nodded and poured himself a shot, which he promptly threw down the hatch.

"Wait a minute," Tifa said. Now seemed as good a time as any to bring this up, "are you seeing someone else?"

"Tifa!" Cloud sounded exhausted.

"Well, what am I supposed to think? You're gone … so … you're just gone ….," she didn't mean to stutter but she did anyway. "How can you be gone so much of the time and not be seeing someone else?"

"I …," he didn't look at her. He looked down at the floor, "I don't know what to say. I can't …."

Cloud stood up and went over to his small dresser. He put down the bottle and the shot glass and opened the first drawer in the dresser. Tifa mentally kicked herself for not looking in there earlier today. Cloud looked down at whatever was in there and then shut the drawer. He poured himself another shot of curiel and knocked it back quickly.

"What ….," she started to say.

It was so hard to have to deal with Cloud, but some things needed to be settled and they needed to be settled now. She was tired of waiting for him. This time it had been almost a week since his blond, spiky ass was home. That wasn't going to cut it anymore. She'd been thinking about this seriously for the last few months.

When he turned to look at her over his shoulder – the look in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking.

"Cloud," she said, "please don't run out on me now. Promise you won't. We … we've got some things to talk about."

"No, you're right," he looked away from her. "There are some things that need to be said."

A chill came over her all of a sudden and she didn't know why. She hadn't expected this – that Cloud would break it off with her. She always thought she'd be the one to break it off ….

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, let's get it all out."

She went over to the dresser and poured a shot of curiel for herself. If he was going to say what she thought he was going to say, she would need it. She knew Cloud. It had gotten to the point where she knew what he was thinking by the look in his eyes. Tonight he was different. She'd seen this before, too – the steely-ness before the fight.

"So, what did you have to say to me?" He said, standing in front of her, his hands in fists at his sides.

The way it looked now, there was no getting around this.

"All right," she said. "Can you sit down? I feel like you're gonna bolt at any second."

Cloud nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at his hands and then the floor. Tifa curled up on the other end and folded her legs under her. This whole conversation was such a long time coming. During his last stint with being _gone_, she'd finally decided.

"I can't take this anymore," she said. The last thing she wanted to do was sound pissed off. She kept that in check. "Do you know what I mean, Cloud?"

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I think I do."

She waited instead of getting pushy about it. Tifa knew that about herself – she was aggressive. She was aggressive about life. And Cloud ….

Well, he was and he wasn't. With him there was a time for being aggressive. He was also stubborn. She'd known that for a long time. There were times when she could push him and times when it was a bad idea. Tonight he was right on the edge.

He didn't look at her, "You want me to be around more, right?"

"Yeah, I do," she said quietly. "Not just me - Denzel does, too."

"I don't know if I can do it, Teef," he said, still not looking at her.

This wasn't a big surprise to her. If being a family man had been easy or do-able for Cloud he would've done it already. But his life – for the last ten years he'd been a soldier and that was all. Ten years was a long time. It was enough time to get into a way of being. Sephiroth had been like that, too – once they reached a certain point, there was nothing else they could be but a soldier.

"Okay," she said, "okay. I … I know … you …. I know …."

"Do you really?" He looked at her suddenly and surprised her. "Do you really know me?"

She looked him in the eye and said very quietly, "Yes, I do, and you know I do. Will you tell me the truth about something?" She said to him. "Really – tell me the truth."

"Yeah," he said easily and nodded. He rested his forearms on his thighs and seemed to ready himself for what was coming.

"Don't say anything right away. Just think about this for a minute," she said. "In your heart do you feel that Aeris was your true love? The one love of your life?"

He looked at her for a second and then went back to looking at the floor.

What Tifa knew was the real story behind Cloud's long depression. Yes, Aeris died; and, yes, he loved her. Tifa knew the two of them had gone twenty toes when they were all up at Gold Saucer. Aeris told her all about it once they got to Cosmo Canyon, and that was okay. That didn't bother her. Aeris and Cloud had been close to her then and … for some reason … the two of them doing it just … didn't bother her.

Cloud had loved Aeris, but what not a lot of people knew was that Cloud had also tried to kill Aeris. He'd nearly run her through with his own sword before he regained control, and Tifa had been down below, at Ancient City, watching all of that unfold in horror. That's why there were times when Cloud hated himself, when he didn't trust himself. Those times Tifa reminded him that it wasn't him – it was her, Jenova, back then. Even so, he still missed Aeris.

Cloud looked at her again, "I don't know."

"Cloud," she started out, "I need someone that's going to be here every night. Y'know, I pretty much know that's not you. I don't know if it's me, or ..."

He unclenched his fists, "It's not you. I would never come back here if it wasn't for you and the kids. I just ..."

Cloud went back to sitting at the edge of the bed. He clasped his hands in front of his body against his lap and watched them.

"You just can't do it," she said quietly.

The silence came. There was nothing she could do to stop it or break it. It was Cloud's silence, and she was familiar with it. You didn't want to take that away from him on peril of making him angry. Tifa shook her head and said nothing. There wasn't even another woman, or another man, she could blame or scream about and hate. He just couldn't bring himself to stay with her.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: lemon chapter! I tried to keep it as soft core as possible ^_^_

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><p><strong>chapter 4<br>**

"All right," Cloud said, standing up again. "I got something to ask you about."

"Okay," she said, "go ahead. Ask me anything."

He stopped, thinking, and then turned to face her, angry now. Her first thought was that he had heard rumors that she was seeing someone else, which, of course, wasn't true. Instead, he surprised her.

"Why do you want me now, Tifa?" He said, looking down at her.

"Why do I ... what?" She said.

"Why do you want me now? You never wanted me before. All of a sudden you can't get enough. You want me all the time," he said.

"How can you say that?" Tifa stood up to face him, "You can't say that I never wanted you, that now I only ..."

"Yeah, I can," he stayed where he was, his blue eyes flashing, "because it's true. When we grew up you always treated me like a fucking asshole ..."

"I did not!" She said.

"You did and you know it!" He got closer to her, "Don't think I've forgotten about that pack of dumbasses you always hung out with and how you all treated me like the village idiot. You know it's true, Tifa. And now – why now?"

"Stop right there," she went around him to the bottle of curiel and poured herself a nice shot. "I need a drink for this one."

He crossed his arms and waited.

When she was finished she said, "Don't tell me you've been brooding about that all these years."

"I just wanna know why all of a sudden you ...," he said.

"All of a sudden? Are you kidding? We've been in holy bedlock for three years – that is, whenever you decide to show up!" She said. "And now I ..."

"No," he held up a hand. "No way. Don't kid yourself. You're always talking about being honest. Now you gotta be honest about yourself, Teef. The only reason you want me now is because I'm some kind of hero to everyone. Admit it. That's why you want me now. Before – you didn't give a shit if I lived or died."

She couldn't believe she was hearing this. She took a minute to think about it. What he was saying was true in a way, not that she wanted to admit it. Her dad had been mayor of their town. Together her parents owned most of the town, including a lot of the land that Shinra bought. The children she'd been allowed to hang around with way back then had been the kids in town whose parents owned things, like the hotel and the store, and the kids whose parents were Shinra executives. Her parents had money back then, money she used to buy her first 7th Heaven. Hanging out with a kid like Cloud had never been an option with her mother, and especially with her father. Her father had hated Cloud.

"Y'know," she said quietly, "you were from a poor family then, too. Remember that? What was I supposed to do ..."

"Oh," he stared her down, "just like a typical girl – if some asshole has money, then ..."

"Excuse me?" She said, "what am I supposed to do – go out with some broke-ass nobody like Reno or Rude ..."

He caught her by surprise again when his eyes flew open wide and he laughed out loud.

"Seriously," she said. "What about your friend Johnny? He was always hanging around the bar."

What a creep he had been. That boy wasn't right in the head.

Tifa sat down on the bed again, "When I came to Midgar I was 18 and had the money my father had left me. Of course most of that's gone now. But I've made my own money, too. I've had to be a hard business woman to survive."

Cloud turned away from her. His private room had two large glass-block windows that let in the weak gray light of Midgar during the day. He stood facing the windows as if it was still day time and there was something to see out there. There wasn't. At this time of night there was only blackness and street lights, and Cloud definitely wasn't look at them. Tifa knew him too well. He was going inside himself again.

"Maybe I …," she watched his back, "… I'm not right for you. Maybe you and Aeris were … really …."

He turned around, "No. I've always loved you both the same."

Finished with what he had to say, Cloud went back to watching the darkness and the fluttering pale green street lights against the glass blocks, "I just don't know what you want me to say, Teef."

"No," she relaxed into his bed with her back to the wall, and what an appropriate simile that was, "We've said everything now we can possibly say. Sounds like it's all out in the open now …."

She sighed and plunked her thick shot glass down on Cloud's night stand. These thick shot glasses were good for freezing, and they were hard to break. That's all that came to mind. Either alcohol or exhaustion was getting to her – one of the two.

"Yeah, you're right," was all he said, not looking at her. "Is there really anything else to say?"

She liked his back. He was muscular and had (what did they call it?) – a good physique. A good body. The back of his neck curved down his spine to the narrowness of his waist and hips. His muscles there were fighting just under the cloth of his sweater. Looking at him, she wanted to touch him there, to run her fingers from his neck, down …. His gluteal muscles were round and hard. Her fingers had been there. Not lately, but they had definitely been there and the memory lingered. His thighs were nice and thick with a soft carpet of golden curls that had felt good against her skin.

"Nope," she said. "I've said what's on _my_ mind. You've said … what's on yours …."

He turned to see her, look at her, maybe one last time, "Uh huh."

Tifa looked up and caught him with the same old injured look in his eyes, "So, then, will you come and sit with me one last time? Let's just have a shot and I'll go, all right?"

He went over and plunked down on the bed, "Well, I don't want you to _go_ …."

She poured a shot for herself and threw it back, down the hatch. It was so good, so smooth, and yet it burned like fire. She poured a shot for Cloud. Now he was going to waffle for her again. She hated that.

"I don't want you to ever go …," he said quietly.

She calmly handed over his shot of curiel, "But you don't want to stay, either."

She was used to his extreme indecisiveness by now. Caution? Waffling? Brooding moodiness? Whatever.

He threw back the shot, "I can't stay."

She poured another shot for Cloud. He relaxed on the bed next to her, under her free left arm. He was so warm. He smelled like fresh air. It was nice having him this close. Being close to his body always calmed her down.

He gave the shot glass back to her, "You smell good."

"That's really saying something," she said, "I've been working since five."

Cloud laughed softly and kissed her neck, "You do. I like the way you smell all the time, like soap and perfume and shampoo and hand lotion."

She put the shot glass back on the night stand as Cloud's left arm twined around her waist. He kissed her again on the pulse of her neck and then behind her ear.

"It's so nice just to be close to you," she said softly. "I feel better …."

"Really," he murmured, his face in her hair.

What about love? What was love like? Had she ever been in love before? She thought about Mideel and how she was so afraid he might die during the night, and about all the times she had been searching for him. She knew his pain. All of them had been so down. She ran her fingers down his arm. The time he came with Aeris to get her out of Don Cornelo's. the look on his face. She didn't want to think about that too much right now. She didn't want to laugh.

"Okay, so – what's so funny?" He said.

"You … and Aeris … and Don Cornelo …," she tried not to giggle but did anyway.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He said, "None of that now. But … that one goon did say I was really toned for a chick."

"I know!" She said, "but you're right. Now is not the time to be thinking about … what happened."

"I fucking _love you_," he said and kissed her quickly.

Tifa closed her eyes, fighting with herself. _And yet you can't stay,_ she wanted to say. But she didn't. She didn't want to ruin this moment. Instead she enjoyed the feeling of him being so close, heavy against her, his intoxicating smell, and then … his mouth on hers.

This was the best. Right here. This is what she liked – lying in bed talking to Cloud, his arm around her. The whole house was quiet. The house was what her father would've called a matchstick house – made of cheap wood, built quickly for little money. In this house you could hear _everything_. Now all was quiet, except for their silly conversation … and Cloud's heart beating. Tifa stayed where she was, listening, her head on Cloud's chest.

"Did it skip a beat?" Cloud said with a hint of a smile on his face.

Tifa giggled. Cloud leaned down to kiss her. She liked this part, too, of being with Cloud, and tilted her face up, eyes closed, to feel his soft lips brush against hers. Tifa kissed him back gently, not rushing things. Well, that was her immediate _plan_, not to rush things. As Cloud reached up to quickly unzip her vest, it became obvious that he had an immediate plan of his own.

"Now what's funny?" He said, unzipping.

She told him.

"I am a guy, you know," was all he said. He kissed her throat and then her cleavage, sneaking his right hand under her t-shirt to cup her left breast as best he could, "I hate your bras."

Tifa whispered, "You and me both."

She liked where this was going. Maybe it had been too long for her. More than hungry, she felt thirsty, as if she had been through the desert and now … at a well. Or at an oasis. An imaginary thing, made up of desire. Tifa smoothed Cloud's thick blond hair back from his face. His eyes were becoming soft and dreamy. She kissed him, holding his face in her hands, as he ran a thumb over her left nipple. It sent a shiver of electricity down to her sex and she sighed.

In one quick move, like lightning, Cloud was off of her and standing in the middle of the room, unzipping his own thick sweater and undoing his belt buckle at the same time. Tifa sat up in bed and took off her vest, throwing it at the foot of the bed. By the time she pulled off her t-shirt and threw that on top of her black leather vest, Cloud was already naked.

"How do you do that?" She said. "It's like all your clothes come off at once!"

He stood in front of her and smiled, "Remember – I am a guy."

He was also hung and getting an erection. Aeris had warned her about that. She said guys who were fairly large-bodied, like Sephiroth and Rude, were pretty much always average in the dick department. Guys like Reno could go either way but were usually skinny. There was some speculation about Valentine. Tifa always wondered if she should ask Yuffie, but Yuff was the kind to pretend like they weren't doing it on the side.

And then there was Cloud. She had also wondered how many knew what he had going on down there. He stood for a minute watching her unhook her massive bra and then crawled into bed to watch. As soon as her breasts came out, he got dreamy-eyed. She didn't mind. She hated other guys staring at her boobs, but Cloud – he could look all he wanted.

Tifa stood to unzip her shorts.

"Socks on or off?" She said to Cloud.

"I really don't care either way right now," he said, eyes locked on her swaying breasts.

She left them on and then removed her shorts and panties in one downward movement. Tifa stood for a moment by the bed, looking down at Cloud. His eyes went from her breasts to her sex. She didn't have much pubic hair, but still trimmed what she had. It seemed to go very nicely with Cloud's curly blond locks. He seemed to think so, too, and reached out for her thigh. His hand traveled up to stroke her bottom,

"Could you be any more beautiful?"

Now was not the time for words. She no longer had any. Tifa stretched her right leg over her lover and then sat down on top of his growing erection. Cloud grunted, pushing his hips up against her as he cupped her breasts in his hands.

Oh, how she needed him. She rubbed her sex against the length of his shaft. This time he moaned. She couldn't wait and was so glad the children wouldn't be hearing any of this. Tifa reached down between her thighs. She held Cloud's member in her fingers and guided it between her folds. She had to help him – what Cloud called _the blind man_, and she did. He found entrance. She moved against him just as Cloud bucked upwards, spearing her. Tifa tried not to scream.

They moved together easily, like two people who know each other well. Being with Cloud could be painful, but Tifa loved it. Pain and pleasure. She moved against him. He moved inside her, cupping her bottom in his hands and watching her breasts. All Tifa could do was kiss him. The pleasure was too great. She speared her tongue into his mouth a little too roughly. He didn't mind. Their tongues fenced together, matching their movements, matching the squeaking of the bed. Cloud broke away first,

"I don't think I can hold it very long, Teef."

"Just … yeah," she could feel it building, "yeah … I don't … oh my god …."

She knew she wouldn't last long, either. It had been too long, about three weeks since she'd last gotten off on her Cloud. She was ashamed that it would be over so quickly for her. So quickly. Whether she wanted it or not, the familiar feeling came, starting in her thighs with a tingling of pleasure that was so intense.

"Yeah …," was all she could say. Cloud moaned underneath her, thrusting.

The tingly feeling grew and spread up through her sex and into her stomach muscles.

"Oh … oh my god," she said, not being able to stop it, "Cloud!"

And then it exploded like fireworks, rippling through her thighs, her sex, throughout her whole body, making her scream, unashamed, not caring if the children heard. Her orgasm made her scream and cry out again, and it triggered Cloud's. He cried out, too, bucking upwards and spearing her hard again and again. He didn't stop until he was empty. He finished before Tifa, but she stayed with him, enjoying the feeling of his member inside her.

When she was totally finished, she fell sideways onto the bed, numb now. Even so, Tifa managed to collapse on Cloud's right side, between his chest and arm. He was hot and sweaty. Not that that bothered her. She still liked the way he smelled.

After 5 or 10 minutes she said, "God, we're pathetic …."

Cloud laughed weakly, "Hey – I'm just …."

Tifa didn't hear anymore. She fell into a warm sleep, her body numb.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Thank you, reviewers! I thought about writing this story in a linear way but decided against it. I'll write more about that in the next chapter, which will be the last. Oh, yes - Tifa's and Cloud's emotions are going to be all over the place because they're conflicted. They love each other and want to stay together, maybe make a life together, but Cloud can't do it. Conflict + Love = Emotions. That's how I'm writing it._

* * *

><p><strong>chapter 5<strong>

Her first thought when she opened her eyes was that this was just another day, that she was in her own bed, sleepy, not wanting to be awake so early after such a late night at the bar, wanting to sleep a little more before the kids woke up. Tifa opened her eyes to a gray wall, closed her eyes again, and then …

That was different – the wall in front of her. This was not her bedroom. The wall in her bedroom was more of a puce color. Or, as Denzel liked to say – puke colored. Then it all came back to her – Cloud, talking, arguing, sex. Big, big argument this time. Everything just seemed to come out. If that wasn't true – if everything _hadn't_ come out, it was down to just a bare minimum at least. She, however, couldn't imagine what would be left to say that hadn't been said – Nibelheim, Aeris, love, wealth, childhood, infidelity, accusations.

She almost called out for Cloud but stopped herself. Tifa looked around. Over her shoulder, the clock on top of his dresser said 4:10 a.m. She'd been asleep for an hour. It was so early, once she went to the bathroom she could crawl back into bed and sleep for another 2 hours before the kids woke up and came downstairs.

Scratch that. This week Denzel was going it alone. Barret was in town to see Marlene's family. At the end of every babysitting evening, Yuffie and Vincent were dropping her off at Barret's rented apartment. Denzel and Marlene both hated it, but it was only a week. Tifa was thankful for a little break. If Denzel was alone, he would fix himself a bowl of cereal and watch cartoons until Tifa woke at around 7:00. But if Marlene was here, forget it. She would want to wake Tifa so Tifa could get her day started. Thanks to Marlene, Tifa had learned that it was nearly impossible to get into a deep sleep when someone was standing over you with a concerned look on their face.

She very carefully looked behind her on the bed, even though she already knew Cloud was there. She could feel his weight, his heat – even the subtle movements of his breathing. He was still asleep. She didn't want to disturb him, but she definitely needed to get to the bathroom. Sliding carefully downward, she got to the foot of the bed and crawled out with a sideways glance.

But now – what to do? She needed her bathrobe, but it was upstairs in her bedroom. She tiptoed over to Cloud's dresser to get one of his t-shirts. One thing about these soldier guys – they slept lightly. She had to be extra quiet. She took a white t-shirt out of his middle drawer and was about to put it on when her eyes fell on the top dresser drawer.

Oh, yes. What _was_ he looking at in there? That was so unlike him. He wasn't the type to have a secret stash somewhere. Denzel was the type, but not Cloud.

Speaking of Cloud, he was asleep … _totally_ asleep …. Light sleep? Or deeper than usual, considering what they'd been up to earlier?

No. She couldn't … snoop. She hated people who did that. Either he'd tell her about it or she'd go the rest of her life not knowing. And yet she couldn't stop looking at it. Tifa forced herself away. She slipped into Cloud's t-shirt and stole one last look at him. Still out like a light. Only his back muscles moved very subtly up and down with his breathing.

The next door up from Cloud's room was his manly bathroom done in all white tiles, with a walk-in shower and a stack of blue towels on a shelf. He even had his soldier's soap in there, dark blue, on the white sink. It doubled as shampoo, which seemed wrong to Tifa, somehow, using a bar of soap on your hair. She giggled about it – Cloud and his manly stuff. She did her business quickly and washed up afterwards, yawning and listening for Denzel. Nothing but peace and quiet throughout the house.

Little did she suspect that this would be her last night here, in this place.

When she got back to Cloud's room, he was awake and standing at the dresser. Tifa stopped in her tracks. He had the top drawer open and was looking at something again, something she couldn't see.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" She said cautiously.

He turned to look at her for a second, "Yeah."

Tifa went back to the bed and sat down at the edge, "I'm sorry!"

Cloud turned around, "I just … seem to know when you're not near me, even if I am sleeping."

She loved it when he was totally nude, not a stitch of clothing anywhere. She nodded, watching him.

"Teef …," he started to say, and then he stopped, thinking.

"You can tell me anything. I hope you know that. You and I … we've been through so much," she said quietly.

He stayed where he was, facing her, "Have _you_ ever thought about leaving Midgar?"

Now that was out of left field. Why would she leave Midgar? Her bar was here. Sure, there were a lot of things she hated about the city, too, but … she'd never thought about _leaving_. It just wasn't an option. Even if she did want to sell 7th Heaven, no one was buying in Midgar these days.

"Why are you asking?" Tifa said as casually as possible.

Cloud took a thick sheet of paper out of his top dresser drawer and went to sit next to Tifa. He handed her what he had – a letter-sized color photo of a white house with a white barn and lots of bushes off to the side. The bushes had all been trimmed to about the same size but were very leafy. On the other side of the house seemed to be a body of water of some sort – a lake or the ocean.

"What's this?" She said. It was kind of weird for Cloud to have a picture of just a house and some bushes.

"It's a house and a … oh, here," he went back to the dresser and took something else out – a few long papers.

He went back to sit by Tifa at the edge of the bed. He gave the papers to her. She took them and noticed immediately that at the top of the first it said DEED. Maybe it was just too early, but her mind was not adding two and two together.

"What does this mean?" She said to Cloud. A Deed and a house definitely went together, but what was _he_ doing with them?


	6. Chapter 6

**chapter 6**

**Outside of Midgar**

**7:30 a.m.**

Tifa sipped at her espresso and watched the road as she drove west to east along the highway between Midgar and Kalm. It was a stretch of road she was familiar with, nothing but sand buttes and scrubby gray plants hugging the earth. Every now and then she would drive out this way for supplies, and it always reminded her of the time the three of them walked all the way from Midgar to Kalm, when Aeris was still alive. They had stayed off the roads then, avoiding the Midgar police.

That was the best time. She smiled to herself thinking about it. Back then they didn't know it. They were running, not knowing if they'd live long enough to find answers or if they'd end up like so many others killed by Shinra police and buried in a secret grave. Even under threat of death the three of them walked along together, telling stories and laughing.

Well, _she and Aeris_ talked and laughed. Cloud smiled and listened.

Not even the day she opened Tifa's Seventh Heaven topped that memory. Back then, life had been so ... _electric_. Now life was as gray as the skies that covered the city every day. Back then, anything could happen at any moment – people talking about a revolution, having to move around after curfew, fighting the police, and Cloud ...

Cloud was different. He had nothing to lose. Even his life ... had been worth ... nothing. She'd been trying to figure him out ever since, but he still remained a mystery.

Looking ahead at the highway, Tifa gasped out loud. At the end of the highway was blue sky. Denzel, sleeping in the narrow seat in back, stirred,

"Tifa?" He said, groggy, "Tifa, where are we going?"

"You'll see," she said quietly. "Sleep for another hour and then we'll be there."

One more hour. Give or take. Since she had no idea _where_ they were going, one hour was being awfully generous. She knocked back a gulp of espresso and worked hard to watch the road. She'd had maybe 2 hours of sleep last night and that was really pushing it. Probably more like an hour and a half. Her mind kept going back to Cloud, during the deepest part of night. He had been the same as always, and yet different somehow ...

* * *

><p>He was nude, and they sat skin-to-skin, arms touching. His hair was wild, his blue eyes in shadow. Sometimes her ache for him was so great, she wanted to lose herself in him. Sometimes she wanted to hold him and never let him go.<p>

"It's a vineyard, Tifa," he said quietly.

Those words had broken through her early morning fuzzies.

Mostly.

_A vineyard._

A lot of people, if not everyone, knew what Cloud did for a job these days. He was a delivery agent. But what exactly he delivered – no one knew that part. Tifa knew. He delivered money. Cloud was one of the few that was strong enough to do it now that Shinra and its own private police force were gone. Well, pretty much gone, anyway. God knows Reno and Rude were still around.

Cloud delivered money for people who were buying things and doing deals. They had both decided that for his benefit and everyone else's that he shouldn't get into anything illegal. A client had to be a legitimate business, except for Rufus Shinra. Now, crazy as it was to contemplate, Cloud was doing deliveries for Rufus, too.

He also delivered people. Twice now he had either escorted money people to their destination or picked up a rich kid and delivered them back home. These were lawless times. Once you got out of the city, it wasn't safe anymore. Shinra's private police were gone, for better or worse, but with them went any security they may have had in their former lives. Not that Tifa worried a lot about personal security. She could take care of herself, but other people …. They were good clients for Cloud.

And so the money part of everything had been looking up over the past few months. Working almost exclusively for people who had money was a good idea.

"Whose house is this?" Tifa had asked him as they sat on his bed, looking at a large color photo. That in itself had been a surprise. She'd never seen Cloud carry around photos of any sort, not even of the kids.

"Well," he looked down, his forearms on his knees, "that's … I wanted to talk to you about that, but …."

"Is this _your_ house?" She said, which seemed highly unlikely.

"I don't know. I thought maybe …," Cloud shrugged, "you might. But then you said you'd never leave Midgar …."

"Me?" Tifa pointed to herself. A chill came over her.

A house. A vineyard.

Grapes?

"Wait a minute," she said, "if you're thinking what I think you're thinking – excuse me, but _you're_ the one who said you can't settle down."

"I didn't say that," he said quietly. He looked up at her, his blue eyes dark in the non-existent early morning light.

"You -," she started to say.

Cloud interrupted her, "I didn't say I could never settle down. I said I can't stay in Midgar."

Now she was getting confused. What the hell was he talking about? Didn't they just agree to break it off last night? If she remembered correctly, they did, and it was because Cloud was unwilling to …

"What are you talking about?" She said to him.

He laughed softly, "I gotta wonder – will you ever change? I'm thinking probably not. Not that I mind. But with you … y'know, a guy's gotta explain himself in 10 seconds or less or he's fucked. Once you start thinking this is the way things are, then that's the way things are. To you, anyway."

Tifa rolled up his long papers and hit him on the arm with them. Cloud laughed again, then stopped. He went back to looking down at his forearms resting on his knees,

"Y'know, when I first saw this place, I thought, yeah, this is it," Cloud looked up at her, "it's right on the ocean, Teef, about 20 miles north of Kalm. Just nothing but vines as far as you can see. I was in Kalm last month looking for a guy who owes a guy money and this … is where he was, and he wanted to sell it."

_Vineyard._

"Grapes, right?" She said, looking at the picture again.

Cloud nodded, "Fresh air. Think Denzel will like it? I know Marlene would."

And now something else was starting to occur to her, something that was giving her a chill. Tifa didn't know what to say.

"So," Cloud ruffled his hair, "I was thinking we should get married."

She still didn't know what to say. The only thing that came to mind was,

"You're kidding."

Cloud laughed and kissed her cheek, "Definitely not kidding. I been thinking about it ever since I bought the house, Teef."

"Married?"

What a concept.

"Yeah," he said, "it just seems right, don't you think? Then Denzel could be our son, you know – legally … our son."

She shook her head at him, "It's all too much, Cloud. I … this is crazy!"

He laughed again, "You would have to be crazy to say yes and marry me. I gotta go to the bathroom. Be right back."

Tifa watched him get a t-shirt and a pair of shorts out of the middle dresser drawer and then peek out into the hallway. He looked back at her,

"Kids still asleep?"

When she spoke, her voice sounded so quiet. Not like her voice at all, "Just Denzel's up there."

"Oh, yeah," Cloud said. He slipped out into the hallway and closed the bedroom door behind himself.

He couldn't live in the city. That's what he said. She believed it. Even Nibelheim seemed too … structured for him. That's why he set off on a train for Midgar as soon as school was out for the summer. Now Midgar's closing in on him. That was Cloud, all right. Tifa took another look at the picture of a house with orchards. She looked at the Deed. It said _Cloud Strife_ as purchaser and owner.

When he came back into the bedroom she said, "Let's do it."

He smiled at her, "Hey – I just got dressed. You coulda said something when I was naked, y'know …."

She had flown into his arms, "_You!_"

He grabbed her, "Okay, so now you wanna do it?"

"Yes," she wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the feel of his body being so close, and his hands on her, "let's do it. Let's get married."

He kissed her, "Yeah?"

"Let's get out of here, take the kids with us, and start something new," Tifa said. She kissed him back. When she pulled back to look at his face, she saw that he was blushing.

* * *

><p>Up ahead, the sun seemed to be chasing away their eternal thin cloud cover. Now if there happened to be another espresso stand along the way, everything would be coming up roses. Or ... <em>grapes<em>, more appropriately.

The plan was that he would go out first, to their new home. As he had gotten dressed, Cloud told her which roads to take out of Midgar – the highway, then one country road, then another, to the ocean.

Cloud left a little after 4:30 a.m. while the city sky was still dark. She kissed him goodbye and waved as he roared off down Midgar's central street, heading east. After that Tifa had snuck upstairs to her bedroom as quietly as possible and started to pack. Denzel woke about half an hour later, asking if Cloud was still home. She didn't want to tell him everything before he was fully awake. Instead she told him to wash and get dressed, and that they both had somewhere else to be today. At 20 minutes after 6 a.m. they were picking up Marlene at her dad's hotel. What a slow ordeal that had been. Some people ... totally not morning people.

But really leaving and locking up the bar – that wasn't as easy as she thought it was going to be. She had her mind made up, but still ….

_Leaving?_

She needed a vineyard. She needed her own grapes. That was all there was to it, and in order to finally have her own winery, she was going to have to leave Midgar and her bar. For now.

As she drove along, early morning turned to mid-morning and the gray skies went away once and for all. She finished off her espresso about an hour out of Midgar, just as Denzel was waking up in the back seat of the truck's double cab.

"Are we there yet?" He mumbled. Marlene woke up with him but said nothing, blinking and looking around at the scenery.

"Almost!" Tifa lied.

One hour and they were just now hitting the first of two country roads that led to their new home. The first road was narrow, lined with pine trees and leafy green trees on both sides. She knew what a pine tree was, but other than that, forget it. Nibelheim had been so cold it was all aspens, alpines and rocks.

Marlene was now awake, "Oh, I know – _now_ we're almost there, right?"

There was no way Barret was going to give up his daughter. Instead he agreed that she could stay out at Tifa and Cloud's house whenever she wanted to.

"Yup," Tifa said, "really, really close now."

The second country road was marked 28A and was dirt. Cloud had told her to rent a truck, not a car. This was why. The three of them bounced along, rocks flying up and hitting the truck, until all of the trees fell away. There was only ocean ahead. They could see it now, along with a white farmhouse at the end of the road.

Denzel yelled, "There's Cloud!"

As they got closer, a shock of blond hair stood out among the green grass and grape vines. He was standing at an iron gate, waiting for them. Above the iron gate it said Greatland Farm. Marlene read it out loud. Cloud opened the red gates and jogged out to the truck,

"Hi!"

Denzel leaned over Tifa, blushing, "Hey, Cloud …."

The sun was hitting his golden hair, his blue eyes sparkling, "Hey, Denzel!"

Tifa watched as Denzel blushed even deeper and then shrugged. He went back to sitting down in the back seat. Tifa tried not to laugh. So did Cloud. It was all crazy. It was all too much.

Cloud smiled up at her, "Welcome home!"

He opened the gates wide and she drove in with the kids. A vineyard and a farm house. Off to the side was a huge garage for Cloud and his bikes. Lots of room for the kids to run. It really was home. This was their new life, and it felt right to her.

Maybe the time they had lived in Midgar had to end sooner or later. There was more to the path of their lives than just existing in the city. She had said goodbye to all of that in the early morning hours of this day. That part of their lives had come to an end. Tonight they would have a party out here at their new home, just the four of them.

The kids jumped out of the back seat of the truck and ran into the big white farm house, laughing. It was windy here. The wind ruffled through their silky hair and took the sound of their laughter higher and higher into the blue skies. As Tifa watched them disappear, Cloud opened the driver's side door and jumped into the truck next to her,

"If you're not coming out, then I'm coming in."

He was smiling and looked good in the sunlight.

"I love you, you know that?" She said. She wanted him. Had they been all alone out here in the middle of nowhere, she would've had him right there in the front seat of the pick up truck. Crude, and yet poetic in its own way.

He kissed her throat and reached inside her jacket to cup her breast, "Nah. Really?"

Tifa put her arms around him, "Be serious with me for a moment."

He kissed her forehead, "I love you, Teef. There's no one else for me but you."

She held him closer. The wind had ruffled the children's hair, and now it rustled through the leaves of all the grape vines, hundreds of them marching north out to the ocean. The wind ruffling their bright green leaves sounded like whispering, as if the wind were trying to tell her something.

"Cloud," she said, enjoying his warmth, "it feels different here. I mean _really_ different. Don't you think so? It feels like a totally different life. I can't explain it. It's like I've never seen the sun before or something."

"Yeah," he held her, "it sure does. Like we can forget everything."

"Some things have to end so that others can begin," she said to him.

He buried his face in her silky brown hair and said nothing, mumbling in agreement, "Mm-hmm."

"Promise me, Cloud, that our old lives have ended. All the unhappy things, let's leave them behind, in our old home town if we have to, far away."

He thought about it and nodded, "Yeah. That's a good way to put it. That part of our lives has ended. We're done with it, Teef."

"Yes!" Happy, she kissed him lightly on the mouth. He kissed her back, brushing the tip of his tongue against her lips. She responded. She kissed him deeply as he cupped and caressed her breasts through her t-shirt.

"Hey!" Denzel yelled from the house, "Hey! We're hungry!"

Tifa broke away from Cloud, smiling, "Damned kids!"

His eyes were dreamy and half-lidded, "Let's hope this isn't an end to our sex life, too."

Her nipples were like bullets. She wanted him, but now it would have to wait until … later,

"Oh, no. I'll send them both off to camp before that happens."

Cloud laughed and kissed her, "Do you think we'll be able to talk them into taking a nap after lunch?"

"Watch me," she said.

Denzel called out one more time, "Hello?"

Cloud jumped out of the truck, "Fine. An end to foreplay and the beginning of … lunch."

Tifa jumped down onto his back, giggling, and the two went into their new house to deal with hungry children.

March turned to April. The cold days turned to warm. The grapes began to grow large and bright green. As soon as reality set in, Tifa hired a specialist from Mideel to teach her how to run a vineyard. It was a lot of work, but she was used to working long hours. Now she worked long hours in the sun, which was perfect.

On a hot and windy Saturday in June, a wedding ceremony took place where the vineyard met the ocean. Vincent and Yuffie took their vows first, followed by Tifa and Cloud, with a teary-eyed Barret giving away Tifa and a stoic Reeve giving away Yuffie. Their wedding reverie was legendary, lasting for days on the farm and in Kalm.

Two years later Tifa gave birth to a son, brown-haired and blue-eyed, that they named Zack. He was a happy, mischievous younger brother to their first son, Denzel, and cousin Marlene. On her 25th birthday she stood at the ocean's edge with her children and thought about it all.

She thought about the night they almost went their separate ways. Instead, they left that terrible place and never looked back, just as they promised. Reno and Rude managed 7th Heaven for her now. There was something about Midgar that had been like a curse on them. Tifa surprised herself when she realized she had no desire to go back, not even to the bar she'd worked so hard for.

The roar of a motorcycle engine interrupted her thoughts.

"Cloud!" Denzel yelled and ran for the house, followed by Marlene. They were both going to school in Kalm now.

Little Zack tried to follow but, at 2 years old, wasn't quite up to the sprint of his older brother. She watched him as he fell on the grass and then stood up and tried it again. She followed. She had news for Cloud. Their new life was definitely taking off in a big direction. She was pregnant again.

Tan and fit, she scooped up Zack and headed for the house, smiling.

Everything in life came to an end sooner or later.

Once there was an end, everything began again.


End file.
